Dreamscape
by Catty Engles
Summary: Starfire has never dreamt before, but her first experience of the unconsciousness is a nightmare. Robin is privy to her reaction in the middle of the night in the middle of his bed... One-shot


AHH!! The mush! I had to do a Rob/Star fic at sometime. I am just one of those helpless romantics. Ah well, this is pure fluff that I had to put on paper once it got into my mind (and dang it, it wouldn't go away!). So for a dental warning, this story is so sweet it is a danger of giving you cavities...

Dreamscape

By: Catty Engles

    Robin was jolted awake by the rebound that was the other half of his cot suddenly becoming recipient to a very frightened alien. Starfire slammed into the bed making the springs groan with the force. Robin almost fell off of it with the shock, dimly realizing to be thankful for once that he had fell asleep reading and had not yet removed his mask. Drowsily, he reached for the bedside light on his nightstand, listening in growing distress to the whimpers coming from the girl beside him.

    "Starfire?" Twins lamps of usually effervescent green stared back at him filled with uncharacteristic distress. Her tiny brows were pulled together in such a sharp frown that he instantly realized the magnitude of this late night visit. "Starfire, what's wrong, are you hurt?" He rolled to his side then lifted himself into a cross-legged position. Starfire slowly followed suit, staring at him all the while with her pools of dark emerald.

    The lamp guttered and fizzed softly, throwing flickering shadows across Robin's bare chest and Starfire's tearful face. She began to sob softly again, not responding to his questions. He leant forwards, murmuring reassuring sounds and clasping her hand. "Starfire, what is it? Tell me." The voice of levelheaded authority coming from the rock of common sense to the rest of the team and her, calmed Starfire's frantic mind marginally.

    Her eyes lost the fixation on his face and began darting around the room with the look of a frightened rabbit, "You are dead." She whispered with a quaver and uplift at the end of the sentence, almost as asking a question. Robin gripped Starfire's hand harder, compelling her to look at him.

    "Starfire, what are you talking about?" The pointed repetition of her name kept the frenetic alien in touch with reality. She jittered on the bed, her eyes finding his face again but darting all over it, never fixed on the same feature for more than a second.

    Robin's face proved to contain too much emotion. His mouth was pulled into a frown and his brow furrowed, his neck was stiff with anxiety for his teammate. Her eyes finally rested on a point at the middle of his chest. "You were dead. I s-saw you. And Raven. And Cyborg. And Beastboy!" She stiffened with the memory and then seemed to crumple, all the life flowing out of her. Robin did the best he could to support her as she collapsed against him and the bed.

    He laid her down, concern edging every motion as he rubbed her shoulders, his mind racing for an explanation to her sudden premonitions. "Where did you see these things?"

    Starfire's breath was quick and her eyes glazed, "In my head. Robin, they were in my head! I was witness to your death and those of our friends! Why were these images in my head and now with your presence have been proved untrue?!" Robin did not laugh though the solution to Starfire's problem was now clear to him.

    "It's called a dream, Star. Well, in your case maybe a nightmare."

    "A mare of night? These visions are of the equestri-"

    "No, Star. A nightmare. A picture, or something like a film that your mind gives you in the night."

    "If all such films are as unpleasant as mine, I do not wish to receive any more."

    "You've never had a dream before?"

    "I am still confused." She turned aside his question tactlessly, "This film in my head was not real?"

    "No, Star. Not real."

    Starfire breathed a sigh of relief, squeezing Robin's hand gently as tension flowed out of her, but still she was not satisfied. Her undying curiosity coupled with concern for her friends made Starfire press the subject further, "And Raven and Beastboy and Cyborg are unharmed? And you are not-"

    "Look. I'm fine." He smiled lightly, inviting her to inspect his "fine-ness." She did so by sitting up and placing and tiny orange palm upon the middle of his chest. She squinted in the dark.

    "You are not fine." Robin's smile left him and he tilted his head, "You are very hurt. Here." She moved her palm to the left side of his chest, covering his heart.

    Robin's mouth popped open slightly, but he quickly recovered himself. He grasped her wrist and moved it to her knee. He was fast realizing the insinuations that could be made if he was caught with the alien girl in his bed and him half-naked. They had slipped his mind during the span of Starfire's distress, but she seemed to be on the mend and was settling down nicely.

    "Are you okay? Do you want to go back to bed?" He questioned gently.

    "I would rather spend the night with you." She looked guilelessly up at him and a surge of warmth toward her innocence flooded through Robin. He would gladly share his bed with her, but not for the reasons most would ascribe to this urge. He had no aspiration to carnal pleasures, but he would simply enjoy consoling Starfire, and letting her feel his reassuring nearness. Sadly, this was not doable.

    "That's... not possible. I'm sorry, Star, you've got to go back to your own bed." She frowned slightly, but for once, to Robin's pleasure, she did not pursue the topic.

    Quietly, they padded back to her room, Starfire a-loath to let go of Robin's comforting arm and surrender his presence. She whispered questions of dreams to him which he answered calmly and clearly. ("Do you have dreams?" "Are they all so horrible in their content?" "Do dreams only come at night?" "You are certain our friends are unharmed?" "What do you dream of?" Along with many others.)

    He turned aside more of the personal questions, giving vague answers, but generously bestowed his knowledge of the unconsciousness upon her. She digested the rapid-fire information amazingly quickly, and Robin once again acquiesced to her powers of comprehension which he found especially acute. Though she was naïve about Earthly ways, she was remarkably smart.

    Starfire turned in the doorway to her room, still holding tightly to Robin. "If I cannot spend the night with you, are you able to spend it with me?"

    He tenderly pried her clutching fingers from his arm and softly explained that no, he could not.

    "Robin, I believe I have commenced this dreaming because I had an erroneous desire to become more like my fellow teammates. I should not test the powers of fate again. I am very sorry." She lowered her eyes, and her lashes made a dark crescent against the creamy orange of her skin.

    If Robin were not Robin, he would have melted at the sight, but being Robin, he grinned slightly, giving her should a light squeeze, and for the ten thousandth time wished he was not Robin. He wished he could throw off the scruples of leadership, and let relationships get as unprofessional as he sometimes imagined. But he was Robin.

    "You didn't do anything wrong. Go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning." Starfire nodded her head, dully, not looking up or making any move to enter her room. She lifted her gaze suddenly, finding his eyes and holding them.

    "This is not a dream, Robin?" He swiftly shook his head, bewildered by the powerful emotion those eyes evoked from him. A fleeting look of joy passed over her face. "I did not answer you earlier, but yes I have dreamt once before." Robin smiled slightly, cocking his head, and guessing correctly he was about to learn what about.

    "May I be permitted to share with you the contents of said dream?" She ducked her head causing two walls of hair to pour from behind her shoulders and hang about her face.

    "It wasn't another nightmare, was it?" Robin asked, not able to resist resting his hand on one of her exposed shoulders.

    "No," Starfire bowed her head lower, becoming more compact by the second, "It was pleasant."

    Robin was amused, her lifted her chin with his knuckle and smiled, "Then, what was it?"

    Starfire's eyes were closed as Robin's hand tilted her face up to his. She breathed deeply of him before gently bringing her lips to his. She kissed with a determination rather than passion, her body tense, as if ready for Robin to throw her off. She held her fists clenched at her side and her eyes tightly screwed shut. If Robin wasn't the one she was kissing, he wouldn't have been able not to laugh. But as it was...

    Robin was the first to disengage. He held her by the shoulders, a serious look on his face, which was followed closely by a smile, "You're doing it all wrong." He closed the distance between himself and her again, resting his hands on her waist and enfolding her mouth and body unto himself. Starfire's arms were held out to her side, she was at a loss as to what to do with them.

    Robin backed away, smiling and placed her arms around his neck. Starfire beamed at him, "I do believe I like this mouth on mouth." She said it a little breathless, and he had no doubt that she was aware of all the implications and indications that kissing contained. Starfire knew what kissing was, but only her recent dream had sparked any interest in it, and for that, Robin would be eternally grateful.

    "It's called a kiss, Starfire."

    "Kiss." She tried the word out, her arms still around his neck. Her thighs pleasantly pressed against his own as she leaned away from him to get a look at his face. "Will you kiss me again, Robin?" He delighted in the mischievous sparkle that lit up her eyes.

    And moving his hands to the small of her back, he grinned, "Anytime."

* * *

A/N Altogether now, AWWWWWWW! 


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